


Cosmetic Croissants

by for_t2



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Bad Pick-Up Lines, Baked Goods, Croissants, Customer Service & Tech Support, F/F, Food, Humor, Makeup, Nerdiness, Parcels, Season/Series 04, Undercover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:27:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29069517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/for_t2/pseuds/for_t2
Summary: Having to go undercover in sales to hide from Samaritan was, in Shaw's opinion, not at all fun, but at least Root sending her pastries made it a little less unbearable
Relationships: Root | Samantha Groves/Sameen Shaw
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	Cosmetic Croissants

**Author's Note:**

> Original prompt: "Three random words - bake, mistreat, indulge"

Shaw was about ten seconds away from seeing if lipstick could be used as a dagger. It was bad enough that they had to go into hiding because of Samaritan, worse that she had to go into hiding as a… Shaw didn’t quite think she could bear to utter the words “cosmetic saleswoman” out loud, and worst was that she had to deal with customers who didn’t know what type of colour they wanted.

“No, no, it’s not orange at all!” The customer shook her head at the latest range Shaw brought up to the counter. “It’s more… vibrant. Brighter. More alive!”

“Vibrant.” Maybe the lipstick could be used as poison. At least it would shut the customer up. “Like… green?”

“Hmm…” Shaw tried to stop herself from tapping her fingers on the counter while the customer thought. A thought process that felt like it took forever. “Maybe?”

“Maybe?” If Shaw had to, she’d-- 

“Excuse me?” Shaw almost cheered as a postman squeezed past the customer. “I’m looking for a Sameen—”

“I’m sorry.” Shaw put on her best fake smile and grabbed the parcel right out of the postman’s hands. “I have to take this.”

And after she managed to barricade herself in the tiny break room right at the back of the store, she almost cheered again when she recognised Root’s handwriting (not that she’d ever tell Root that). Maybe it was a gun. Hopefully it was a gun. If she could get to shoot something again, she could deal with the customers.

She waster no time in ripping open the tape. In lifting up the… The croissant.

Not exactly what Shaw was hoping for. And Root’s note, typically, just had to be in some type of weird computer code and offered absolutely no clues as to what she was supposed to do with it.

At least it was a good croissant.

*****

30 seconds to go. Just 30 more and Shaw would be free (for a few hours). She had been waiting for this moment since the moment she woke up and the Sun still wasn’t up. It was the moment she waited for every hour of every day. The moment when her fucking shift would finally be fucking-- 

That wasn’t her manager walking through the store.

That wasn’t her manager heading right for her.

That definitely, definitely wasn’t.

“Sameen.” Oh no. “There’s a very special customer I need you to take care of.” Please no. “She’s one of our highest-paying regulars. Give her the VIP treatment. Anything she asks for.”

Shaw wasn’t one to beg. She had gone though medical school and hadn’t begged. She had gone through marine boot camp and hadn’t begged. Her own government tried to assassinate her, and still she didn’t beg. Today, she was considering revising that rule. “Isn’t there anybody else who can do it?”

“Everyone else is busy.” She was seriously considering revising that rule. “We’re a team, you don’t want to let them down, do you?”

“But—”

“Remember your sales training, Sameen.” Her managed patted her back (it was more of a shove, really). “Never take no for an answer.”

This wasn’t fair.

Root had sent her another parcel today. It sounded like baked goods when she gave it a shake. It sounded like… It sounded like Shaw was hungry.

This really wasn’t fair.

*****

Mmm, cookies.

Shaw had a multitude of ways to express her deep appreciation for food, most of which involved eating it. And she had to admit that the pastries Root was sending her way were very much worthy of her deep appreciation. Hell, they almost, almost made the idea of going to work slightly less than utterly, unbearably, boringly, awful.

But after a week of parcels, she also had to admit that she was starting to get a little curious. Somehow, it didn’t seem Samaritan hadn’t picked up on them. It didn’t seem Samaritan had picked up on her. Whatever Root was doing, it was working, and it gave her just the tiniest bit of hope that they could get back to the numbers sooner rather than later.

But, more importantly in the sooner of things, there were the notes Root was leaving with each parcel. Little post-its with either a single or a couple of what she was pretty sure was code on them. Nerdy computer programming code.

“Marcie?” Shaw tossed the post-it notes towards the co-worker sitting across from her in the break room (given how small the room was, it was almost really sitting on top of each other). “You have a degree in computer science, right?”

“Me?” Marcie jumped at the sound of Shaw talking. Shaw had tried not to make a habit of it. “Um, yeah. Um, a master’s. Why?”

Shaw sighed. She had tossed the post-its at her for a reason. “What do those say?”

“Um, one second.” Marcie picked them up. Frowned. “Um, they say: I HEART U S W E—”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Why did Root always have to be such a huge nerd around her? “Dammit, Root.” Why did Shaw have to miss that so much?

*****

“What’s this?”

“Nothing.” Shaw tried to subtly nudge Root’s parcel further out of sight under the counter. “It’s nothing.”

“Come on.” The customer tried to circle around Shaw. “I know I saw something.”

“No, you didn’t.” Shaw tried her most menacing tone next. And then her worst glare. It didn’t work. “It’s none of your business.”

The customer just laughed. “This is a store isn’t it? And if I see something on the shelves…”

“You don’t get to—”

“Is that your manager?”

Shaw shouldn’t have fallen for such an amateur trick. She really shouldn’t’ve. But several months of inactivity had left her rusty.

But not that rusty.

If the customer thought he could run away with Shaw’s food, he would only get as far as snatching it away from the counter. Plus a few steps.

As it turned out, tackling the customer right into some stupid’s brand’s promotion stand was a deeply satisfying outlet for Shaw’s frustration.

Unfortunately, it also turned out that her manager was, indeed, right there.

*****

Shaw wasn’t one to bend under pressure. To break under interrogation.

“Sameen…” And Shaw definitely wasn’t going to break under a cosmetic sales manager’s interrogation. “I hope you have a good explanation for this.”

“Customer stole my food.”

“Your food.” The manager dumped the parcel in Shaw’s lap. The completely smushed parcel (there was even a little trickle of something chocolatey tragically melting out of the corner). “You’re not supposed to have food outside of the break room.”

“It was a delivery.” Shaw smirked. “Guess I have a secret admirer.”

Her manager sighed deeply. And sighed again. And again. “What am I going to do with you?”

Ooh, hopefully fire her. Shaw wouldn’t be upset. She promised. “Secret admirers are good for business.”

If it was possible to see someone mentally run through a series of calculations, that someone would’ve looked something like her manager right then. Eventually, her manager sighed again. “Just don’t expect a bonus because of this.”

*****

One day without a parcel was annoying. Two days was concerning. Root was nothing if not persistent. Three days was cause for alarm.

Shaw needed a plan. She needed guns.

The moment her shift ended, she heading right back for her apartment. The moment she stepped through her door, right for her gun cabinet. For this mission, she would need… 

Something was wrong.

She never left her lights on.

Never.

She moved the moment she felt the taser brush against her neck. Grabbed the intruder. Slammed them hard against her wall.

But, of course, that only made Root grin. “Miss me, Sameen?”

Shaw decided not to let go right away. “Dammit, Root.” Pulled her down and kissed her hard. “You should know better than to try and sneak up on me.”

And that just made Root grin even wider. “It’s all part of the fun.”

Shaw rolled her eyes. She couldn’t do much else, really. “Thanks for the food.”

“I thought you’d appreciate the chance to indulge a little.” Root slinked her arm around Shaw the moment Shaw let go of her. “We have a lot to talk about, Shaw. The Machine has big plans for us.” Pressed herself right up to Shaw’s back, and whispered. “But first, do you want to see where I hide your next croissant?”


End file.
